hankyoreh

Jan. 30. (by Kim Seong-gwang

The Blue House expressed open messages of “dismay” and “concern” on Jan. 30 over content in former President Lee Myung-bak’s memoir, prompting Lee’s camp to urge them to “make their judgment after reading the memoir rather than press reports.”

The book’s release on Feb. 2 could result in the long-simmering feud between the current and former administrations erupting into open conflict.

Major content from Lee’s memoirs, titled “The President’s Time,” was released in the media ahead of the book’s official publication early next week. The Blue House is concerned with two passages: one referring to a vote on revising the Sejong Special Autonomous City plan, where Lee and then-Hannara Party (predecessor to today’s Saenuri Party) leader (and current president) Park Geun-hye were sharply opposed in 2010, and another providing detailed information about inter-Korean relations and behind-the-scenes meetings during Lee’s term (2008-13).

A Blue House senior official paid an unannounced visit to reporters at the Blue House’s Spring and Autumn Pavilion press center on the morning of Jan. 30 to share a response to the book.

“We feel the characterization [in Lee’s book] of President Park’s opposition to revising the Sejong plan [in 2010] as being intended to block then-Prime Minister Chung Un-chan [as a potential rival in the presidential election] was made more on misunderstanding than fact, and we are dismayed with that part,” the official said. Chung was in charge of passage of the revised plan at the time.

The official went on to say, “My understanding is that when she spoke about the Sejong plan revisions, President Park was making a decision about balanced national development at a time of political difficulty.” The Sejong plan refers to efforts to relocate some government ministries to Cheungcheong Province to facilitate regional development.

“It is questionable how it helps the public of South Korea or party unity now for this issue to be interpreted [by Lee] in ‘political engineering’ terms,” the official continued.

The official also took aim at Lee for trying to backtrack on his own election campaign pledges.

“The Sejong issue was something Lee Myung-bak asked President Park to stump for during the 2007 election, and she made pledges to residents of the Chungcheong region [the administrative city’s location] on dozens of occasions,” the official said. “After his election win, Lee Myung-bak affirmed that he would be going ahead with the Sejong relocations as pledged.”

The Blue House also showed undisguised displeasure over the memoirs’ account of previously undisclosed details about the process of arranging an inter-Korean summit, including Pyongyang’s requests for US dollars and specific aid items in exchange for agreeing to it.

“Inter-Korean dialogue and diplomatic issues are in a sensitive place right now, and even the media is questioning what good it does for the nation diplomatically to have these kinds of details emerging,” the official said, indicating the Blue House’s unhappiness with the potential burden for inter-Korean relations from Lee’s revelations just a few years after leaving office.

The Blue House’s critical response was seen as likely reflective of Park’s own views on the publication, as a Blue House adviser would have been unlikely to deliver such a blunt assessment of a former president’s memoirs without the current president’s agreement. Some also suggested the Blue House, which is facing a crisis with Park’s plummeting approval ratings, may be trying to extricate itself by opposing itself to a former president whose Four Major Rivers Project and resource diplomacy failures have left him very unpopular with the public.

Former Blue House senior public relations secretary Kim Du-woo, who oversaw the book’s compilation, addressed the response at a press conference held the same day at the Press Center on in central Seoul to celebrate the release.

“I think that if they took another close look at the memoir, a lot of the misunderstandings [that led the Blue House to express dismay] would be resolved,” Kim said.

“There was no reference to opposing the Sejong city plan to block Chung Un-chan, like the Blue House is claiming,” Kim continued. “It would be better if they made their judgments after reading what the memoir actually says, rather than media reports.”

Kim responded to criticisms about disclosing the details of the inter-Korean summit with an indirect reference to the Park administration’s own 2013 release of inter-Korean summit transcripts.

“I’m not sure there’s any kind of rule against disclosing failed behind-the-scenes meetings,” Kim said.

“The Park administration may not be aware because of chances in the leadership at the National Intelligence Service and Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he continued. “That’s why the previous administration should be the ones providing accurate information about how it happened.”

Another former Lee administration senior public relations secretary, Lee Dong-kwan, said a follow-up volume to the memoir would be released late in Park’s term, which extends to 2018.

“He’s preparing to write about the more sensitive things in two or three years,” Lee said. “He didn’t write about anything this time that he thought would really cause a problem politically.”

By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]